Henderson One Off CPWO Lead

REGINA – Halfway home and all the important boxes are being ticked at the CP Women’s Open at Wascana Country Club.

There have been large crowds, low numbers, high winds and hot weather. Most of all, Brooke Henderson is threatening to become the first Canadian to win the national championship in 45 years after the 20-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., turned in her second consecutive six-under-par 66 to sit one shot out of the clubhouse lead with the weekend looming.

South Korea’s Amy Yang (65, 13 under par overall) leads over Henderson and American Angel Yin, who shot 67.

Henderson’s scores may be identical, but they came almost in opposite fashion. Whereas yesterday’s round began with a sloppy, three-putt bogey, Henderson drained a long-range birdie from just off the green to start her second round and the race to the lead was on.

“That (chip-in to start) gave me the confidence the rest of the way,” she said.

“I got it there very differently but overall I feel like I’m hitting the ball in great spots and my putter is really bailing me out sometimes,” she added “I’ve just kind of ran off the momentum and made a lot of birdies. I feel like both rounds are sort of comparable even though (they came) in extremely different conditions if that makes sense.”

In the end, Henderson had seven birdies and a bogey to keep the forward momentum up the leaderboard that she had cited as her goal a day earlier. A deeper dive into tournament stats confirms what Henderson said after her round: She stands fifth in putting and fifth in driving distance so far — a combination that always works but especially so on a golf course with three par 5 on the inward nine that will likely determine the winner come Sunday.

Henderson also acknowledged that she had caught a break by going late-early with her tee times, as the forecast high winds descended on Wascana.

“I definitely got the better half of the draw with this wind coming in,” she said. “I’m just glad that I could take advantage of it and post two solid scores.”

\After the strong start — Henderson also had birdies on four of her first five holes and was tied for lead briefly — some wobbly shots in the middle of her round stunted some momentum, the biggest of which was a short miss on 16, her seventh hole of the day, that led to her only bogey. With playing partners Anna Nordqvist (66) of Sweden and South Korea’s Sung Hyun Park (64, the low round of the day), who is the defending champion and No. 1-ranked player in the world, both going low, it even looked for a time as though Henderson could fall farther back.

Not to worry. After seven straight pars, including a clutch up-and-down on her eighth hole as the energized galleries grew, Henderson pressed the gas and made birdie on three of her final four holes to send the Regina crowd into a frenzy.

“I’ve had an awesome group this week,” she said. “Today, everybody was going low, so you feel like you have to make birdie or you’re falling behind (but) that’s kinda a good feeling. Sometimes it pushes you in the right direction.”

Speaking of direction, the wind was coming in from everywhere from about the midway point of the morning draw. It played a role in Nordqvist’s wild tee ball on No. 8, from which the Swede was fortunate to save bogey. Henderson never seemed bothered by it; not only that, once the morning wave of players signed their cards, they all but knew that the afternoon group, which had enjoyed still conditions the previous day, would be lucky to get out alive Friday afternoon.

Not literally, of course, but it all but ensured that Henderson would be playing in one of the final groups on Saturday afternoon.

“The greens are very firm and fast, and they did try and slow them down a bit today so that no ball would roll in the wind,” said Henderson. “(but) I don’t think that my balls even looked like they were going to roll away, so the course (remains) playable, it’s just extremely strong winds and challenging.”

As for the rest of the Canadian contingent, only A.C. Tanguay and Alena Sharp made the cut. They are both three under par in a tie for 43rd. Sharp, who sits 101st on the money list with just this event and next week’s in Portland remaining for her to get inside the top 100 and keep her card for next year, rallied late on Friday with three birdies in her final six holes.